Personality traits and technical efficiency of Chinese rice farmers

Given the complex managerial tasks and the risks and uncertainties involved in agricultural production, it is expected that personality traits may play an integral role in shaping farmers’ performance. This study uses a large rural household survey dataset collected in three rice-producing provinces in China to examine this proposition. We find that openness to experience and internal locus of control have favourable effects on technical efficiency (TE), while agreeableness and neuroticism are associated with lower TE. Cognitive skills, as measured by years of education, do not contribute to higher TE of the interviewed farmers. These results imply that the motivational component of human capital (i.e. personality traits) is of greater importance for a farmer’s managerial performance than cognitive skills attained through current formal education. The effectiveness of policies aimed at improving rural welfare may be enhanced by adapting agricultural training programmes to include fostering entrepreneurial and social skills, especially for those with unfavourable personality traits for agricultural production, in addition to improving agricultural knowledge.